Connecting Parallel devices

We had a customer who was trying to connect several of his parallel
devices to a new computer. Unfortunately it was unclear to him what the
options were, so this is part of the response we sent, hopefully it
will help others avoid the confusion.

Here are the options that we have for connecting parallel Devices.

Our USB to parallel adapter has a USB type A male to a 36 pin
Centronics male connection. It has a 6 foot cable and is designed to
connect directly to the printer, replacing the parallel printer cable.
The price is $14.95 USD and is part number SW-1302.http://sewelldirect.com/usbtoparallel.asp

Unfortunately USB to Parallel adapters (even those in USB docking
stations etc.) only support printing. In the device manager it will
actually show up as â€œUSB Printing Supportâ€¿
essentially turning a Parallel printer into a USB printer. In order to
connect other Parallel devices, like your scanner or zip drive, you
will need a true parallel port. These can be added to a computer by
getting a PCI card (for a desktop) or a PCMCIA card (for a laptop)

Our PCI Parallel card will give you a parallel port on the back of
your desktop computer tower. It will provide full support of all
parallel functions. The cost is $19.95 USD and is part number SW-1473.http://sewelldirect.com/ParallelPCICard.asp
If you have an available PCI slot, installation is simple. Turn off and
unplug the computer. Remove the cover of your computer tower, remove
the bracket that lines up with the PCI slot, press the card into the
slot, and set the mounting screw. Replace the computer cover and reboot
your computer.

For a laptop we have 2 Parallel PCMCIA cards. They simply slide into
the PCMCIA slot (usually on the side) of a laptop. Unfortunately they
are significantly more expensive than a USB to Parallel or a PCI card,
but they are the only option to connect parallel devices (other than
printers) to a Laptop computer.

Our 3.3V Parallel PCMCIA has a 44 pin connection on the card, and
comes with a short splitter cable that will give you two 25 pin female
Parallel connections. It was designed based on the PCI specification
and unfortunately tends to have a high incompatibility rate (around
20%) It is Part Number SW-1472 and costs $89.95 USD.http://sewelldirect.com/ParallelPCMCIACard.asp

The Quatech Parallel PCMCIA card also has a detachable cable that
will give you one 25 pin Female connection. (when the cable is
detached, the PCMCIA card sits flush with the end of the PCMCIA slot,
to avoid the possibility of part of the card getting bent or broken, It
uses a higher quality chipset than the 3.3V card, and has a much higher
compatibility rate. (we only know of one incompatible Dell Laptop, the
Inspiron 6000) It is part number SPP-100 and costs $99.95 USD.http://sewelldirect.com/QuatechParallelPCMCIACard.asp